Species Conservation Planning
Species Conservation Planning
A planning process that supports groups of people to agree on what should be done to conserve or recover one or more species.
Species conservation plans are built on the best information available for the species, on the threats facing their conservation and recovery, and on the relative merits of potential approaches to overcoming those threats.
CPSG's approach—used around the world since the early 1990s—is particularly useful for species whose conservation involves multiple competing interests, high levels of uncertainty and complexity. Complex issues in threatened species conservation planning require creative solutions and our Species Conservation Planning process has been designed with this in mind.
Our Process
CPSG workshops typically run over 3-4 days and bring together participants representing a range of organisations, disciplines and perspectives. During the workshops, participants work together to agree what it means to conserve the target species, to evaluate available data on the species and the risks to its future, and to recommend an achievable pathway to conservation or recovery.
Single-species Planning
Our single-species planning workshops typically feature the scientific rigor of a population viability analysis (PVA) that helps wildlife biologists and managers more clearly understand the threats that influence populations. The PVA effort is combined with innovative methods for helping people organize and evaluate information across a broad range of disciplines and perspectives. Through this integration, planning workshop participants create more effective conservation actions for species that also take into account the social, cultural, and economic needs of local communities. When local people participate actively and as equals in building the plan, they are much more likely to support its implementation.
Multi-species Planning and “Assess-to-Plan (A2P)”
Threatened species that inhabit the same areas or that share specific biological characteristics often have overlapping conservation needs, and CPSG’s multi-species planning tools can be used to plan for these concurrently.
The first step in this, known as Assess-to-Plan or A2P, uses analyses of IUCN Red List assessment data and the advice of specialists, to identify suitable groupings of species whose overlapping needs can be planned for and acted on together, ensuring stakeholders, collaborators, and resources are targeted efficiently.
A2P is designed to work either as an integral part of the IUCN’s Red List Assessment process, or as a stand-alone process for groups of species with already published Red List assessments. It can be particularly useful for helping poorly known or lower-profile threatened species get the planning and conservation attention they need.
A2P typically groups species according to either: their concentration in particular areas or sites; their reliance on a common habitat or ecosystem that is itself threatened; their susceptibility to a high-profile threat requiring a systemic program of action; or their need for a particular conservation strategy such as ex situ management. Species may be allocated to multiple groups. Planning proceeds using processes customised to the needs of each of these challenges. As for single-species plans, the outputs of multi-species planning make clear what the challenges are to each species, what needs to be done to manage or overcome those challenges, and who should lead or collaborate on the actions prescribed.
The tenkile tree kangaroo population rebounded from fewer than 100 individuals to an estimated 300 after CPSG helped to connect local landowners, conservation scientists and government authorities through a workshop process, supporting them to equitably share their knowledge and take collective responsibility for conserving this species.
